There She Goes Just A Walkin' Down The Street...

Well that was FUN! My head in the puffy clouds I guess? I missed a junction of i-285. Ended up accidentally sightseeing Atlanta airport in an 18 wheeler. There's this MOMENT ,, kinda like being on I-70 in St. Louis headed towards Illinois,, that ONE SECOND where the Arch is in perfect symmetry and it makes my throat close off with emotion to see it like the blade of a knife?? 

In Atlanta it is a tunnel and a bridge that if you are REALLY lucky?  An airplane on it's descent to ATL will cross just a few feet overhead, giving the urge to duck!!!  I LOVE that moment!  It happened today,, and I promptly missed the merge to STAY on I-285,,, instead found myself on I-85 going around the airport parking lots. Now Folks? This is not a Geo Metro to turn around ;)   I keep my cool head and instinctively, just stay rolling.  Lo and behold, it goes back out to I-285 PRESTO!

JUST AS I GOT TO SPEED?? A vehicle flagged me down, horn blaring pointing to my tires!  I look in my mirrors, and see that a rear trailer tire is throwing rubber on the passenger side. I pull over,, but it's against a guard rail. 

My company says if most of the rubber has already blown off, to limp the truck to our Atlanta Terminal 7 miles away.  I have a bad gut feeling on this one.  But agree to do so. 

The load is 79,780 pounds (allowed 80,000).  This was weighed at 3/8 tank of fuel which is 8 pounds per gallon, total capacity is 300 gallons.

The weight settled on the remaining tires, causing a SECOND tire to overheat, then blow up!!!  As I am watching in my rearview passenger mirror I am thinking "GEEZ that's a WHOLE LOT OF RUBBER for ONE TIRE!!!"  So,,  I happen to be looking when the two outer RIMS BIT THE PAVEMENT and sparks flew!!!!!

The sparks??? Well, it took me 150-200 yards to get pulled to a safe stop on the shoulder of I-285.... as I was stopping,, the sparks are still arcing.... 

SET FOUR wildfires!!!!!  Two of those flashed up the dry tinder hill, through a chain link fence and across the divide into the neighboring lands!!!  Thankfully, there was already police and fire rescue at an accident scene  about 100 yards up on the inside NB lane, they rolled BACKWARDS on the highway and tanker trucks, big firetrucks, etc all came out to the scene.  It shut down I-285 at 3:40pm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't even THINK about my fire extinguisher, lol.  I went and stomped one fire out with my tennis shoes. (not the sharpest crayon in the box).   I DID THINK TO ROLL MY DIESEL FUEL TRUCK FORWARD AWAY FROM THE OPEN FLAME!!!!!

Very concerned I would be cited and fined.  I could accept that.  It was negligence on my part, and today I failed to "protect and serve the motoring public".  Somehow, though, the minute the blazes were extinguished, all rescue personnel LEFT.  No one came to write me a ticket.  WOW!!!  A "get out of jail free card"!!!

The Company sent a maintenance driver, who arrived with two new trailer tires on two new rims.  Within 30 minutes of his arrival, I was on my way. Heartland did not require me to go onto the Yard, told me to roll with the load.

It's been a long day.  Mentally and emotionally I was in prayer and deep thought for needs I know friends, family, and fellow Journeying people have.  Physically, it has been a day of great FIRE in my joints, back, and shoulders. So,, With the delay of the FIRE on I-285??? I was then in Atlanta traffic around Cobb County,, took almost 3 hours to go 50 miles.

I am parked now,,, after only 475 miles.  I needed to do 550, but it is almost 10pm and I know the closer to Nashville that I get, there are no more rest areas,, and the truck stops are cesspools up there.  It seems wisest to stop in Monteagle, I got a parking slot at the rest area on I-24.  I can go to bed soon.

Trying to decide what I want to do to unwind??  Usually what is best for me is soft Classical or jazz,, or even light gospel music... candles..... if at home, wine......  and a period of quiet reading.  Prayer before bed.  Lately been experimenting with the meditation.  And I get in bed and drift off to sleep by counting my blessings, listening to my daughters voices where I have them saved on voicemail, and other people on voicemail telling me they love me....

I was listening to Classical piano on the radio, but they must have had a DJ shift change,, the music became more strings and their high pitched squeals and whines... I had to just turn it off and roll down the windows,, let the fresh air clear my head.

Didn't make it anywhere to get anything to eat or to get the shower I had been looking forward to all day.

However,, I'm not grumpy, I am tired.  I am SAFE!!  Atlanta is SAFE (from me)... and I am further up the road to ND today than I was yesterday!!  Talked to Angel, Dora, and Rebekah today ...

just gonna call it a night,, not do any of my relaxing rituals...

Making it work, grateful for the lessons of today,
Jan M. Olsen
~J~

Beautiful Day!

See those bumps on my back? Those are not angel  wings.  They are shoulder blades.  And they just happen to be on fire at this very minute. Fever is ripping pretty good, in my back and shoulders, down my hips  always in my arms anyway, so I forget to mention those.

While pain-wise, this is setting up to be  a very long intense day of concentrating and surviving? 

This drive north is exquisite!  Lovely cool temps, Fall colors.  The other motorists seem to be in fairly good moods and are not acting totally like imbeciles.

My mind is pretty clear, and I wish I could just write all day towards my book.  I sense a flow,, and something DEEP coming to a head. 

Gotta roll though.  My goal of getting the majority of this trip accomplished in the daylight is on track.  Already, I am looking foward to the end of the workday.  I am enthralled by my new book.  Just the idea of a hot relaxing shower,, a hot tea,, and reading or writing time tonight?? Makes me want to get out and push the loaded trailer to move faster, MUSH!

LOL.

Blessed to be working and able to feel everything,
Jan M. Olsen
~J~

Wow, intended to go to bed close to 2 hrs ago....but somehow sat "just for a minute" with a new Costanza jazz cd and new book....looked up? it's 12:45am??

Shrugs....

Hmmm,, I KNEW I should have stopped for the night at Cafe Risque in Micanopy!!

((because it is "early" there and still plenty of semi truck parking!!!))

Of course,, I didn't stop, because I spend money in there when I do. 

But,,, even at 10:15pm the major rest area at I-75 nb at Lake City is FULL UP on truck parking!!!  62 miles to the next one,, which will be the Georgia Welcome Center,, and they close the restrooms at 5pm!!! (HUH!??!)

I decided to flip,, go up one exit,, turn southbound and check out the rest area on that side,, flip again in the morning... already passed all the trucks stops in Florida that are in my book.

Lo and behold!!!  At the next exit where I was turning around??  A mom and pop 10 truck slot business,, and a truck pulled out as I came on the lot!!  I GOT THE LAST SLOT!!!

You came too late to say that God and guardian angels do not work to keep us provided for and safe!!!  I won't believe otherwise!

Seems D and R lead normal lives??  At 9:15pm they were already phones off, in bed.  So,, Texts and v-m.... I am reaching out though.

Spent an hour on the phone with my best friend.  AHHHH sooooo good to talk again and LAUGH!!!  We share so much history,, we can make snide comments that make sailors blush with shame,, and to us?? we refer to something our grandmother's could hear!  LOL...  I kept her company on her ride home from work,, as she saw me up I-75 a little further. Nice!

Meanwhile, multi-tasking,, helping a recent Empty Nester WHHS classmate on FB make the treacherous navigations for the Holidays.  Talking others through these roller coaster times helps me find a balance,, and purpose for why I am here as well.  Getting them to talk it through and answer their own situations for what they inherently need for themselves, and what is RIGHT for THEM,,,  gives me ideas on how to cope too.  Because HOLIDAYS flat out SUCK!  Most people, may have CHANGE and new family dynamics?? Alot of them still have people around them.  Learning to be flexible and celebrate the OTHER 363 days a year as well as TG and Dec 25th may help them find GRATITUDE and BLESSINGS right where they are today.

It breaks my tender heart to hear a plaintive "miss you,, or I need Jan -time..."  when I am not really ever physically "there" for anyone.. it's all done by stupid internet and phone calls...  I sure hope i do not exacerbate their lonely feelings?? 

Jan needs mountain ledge time,, but it looks like my work is about to get REALLY crazy!  i am up for the challenge,, just not sure how much OOMPFH I still have in me to perserve until January when the calendar mercifully resets??

I suppose I am questioning "MYSELF " lately,, when in reality??? I wouldn't be sought if I didn't contribute.  Even helped my best friend with her COLLEGE STUDENTS by being her techie guru....

lol... me?  yeah,, that's making ME laugh too, so GO AHEAD!

Those 2 Electronics degrees and that computer programming i did in ancient years gone by?  I feel like a dinosaur.

I am gonna call it an early night... only did 450 miles today,, but if I stop now?? As I travel North and WEST  I will gain hours on the clock,, so that when I get to the majestic Dakotas I will be driving in DAYLIGHT!!!

God bless America,, HE sure did put some extra loving into the creations!
g'nite,
Jan M. Olsen
~J~

Status Check

Well, Monday was absolutely a new dawn! I slept, rested 8 full hours last night. I could have gone to the church to pray by 0700, instead, I got MUCH MORE accomplished in my well-being by resting, and also some seriously deep work with Spirit -realm before engaging my body to move around. Forces at war.
Interceding yesterday and today on behalf of family and fellow Travellers in this Journey.

I am sorry I was so depleted yesterday as to be down. Today, it was major effort to put on the Ritz to go back to my work or to socialize  with those that did not join me to that certain level at that time. Isn't it a lovely thing when we are not all down at once? The necessary UNITY was present, as I detailed previously.

Enroute now to Fargo, North Dakota. Just passed my daughter at USF Tampa. After she was hit head on by a car striking her bicycle at dusk, she won't walk or ride much after dark. The time change to Standard means I must pass by. My love to the Little Warrior :)

In the next few minutes, will be praying, meditating, and drawing inspiration. I'm preparing myself to call D and R to be sure they are all right after my meltdown yesterday.They look up to me like baby birds in a nest, I fervently pray that by allowing my weakness and frailties to show honestly that I did no harm.

I want to learn from them. As they learn from me. Surely their experience seeing me unguarded and in utmost of travail and anguish for OTHERS will cause them to grow as well.

I will know more soon.
~ J ~铄ent froü my Verizon Wireless mobile phone

The human body is an amazing piece of equipment. Strangled on water..not only coughing, it made me SNEEZE water.Tears streaming,first by choking, then  by laughing.

Not to be outdone? My ears just gave a COLOSSAL  *POP*!!!!!!!

Now I sound like Kermit the Frog with razor blades for breakfast as I sing while I drive.  An improvement oif my normal deep singing voice, LOLOLOL!!

 Yay!!! Freedom to sing ftreely!!  =)

Yahoo!! I just slept 8 hours! Nott straight through....awake every hour or so, but I laid down 8 hours anyway. Not sure my joints are working, haven't tried :)

Not Much Of A Torrent After All

Does anybody notice when a pebble skims into the river?
 Or the dead body floating downstream?

(typing at midnight, eastern time, Sunrise, FL.  Sitting with my laptop balanced on the steering wheel of my semi truck "apartment". Windows down, chilly breeze carresseing my skin,, loving my soft thin flannel pajamas,,, some very gentle jazz,,, scents of the sprinklers and FL mixed bag aromas.... )

Just in the few minutes it took me to drive from Weston Publix to where I swap my car in Sunrise,and get back into my truck to sleep, I have run out of steam. Depressing,, I bought portions "for one"... maybe 16 oz of milk? 10 oz of meat?  Happy they have a great organic section.  Fresh bottle of Bragg's ACV,,, I also got lemon juice earlier today(drink it plain), fresh fruits, new supply of sour milk to chill and eat, I mean, yougart,,,and a few specific targetted herbal teas.... Drove by my most recent old apartment in Weston. I'm sure it has new tenants by now. I have been living in my truck since August. Thinking of my old roommate..

Now, I'm left with just disjointed fragments of the thoughts and pain I am in today.....  no one knows just how shattered and broken I am inside. I do believe it is a good place to be.. if I can just see the course,, and let God do the work he is so dilegently pursuing.

BUT OH MY GOD I HURT inside,, and with ALL MY BEING I WANT TO STOP THE PAIN...even if it means circumventing the "PROCESS" I am just so sore, and so wore out,, ,, I have literally cried all day,, from the beginning before dawn until this very minute. So  glad computer screens do not get run marks... Even in midday when I had to take the load on to Miami??? I cried then too. Most of it was weeping and anguish of deepest soul and heart.

I know why,,, I know what is up... I know what is going on.... I am just powerless to stem the tide or change the current.  I MUST ALLOW THIS SEASON ,,, for it has a lesson in it for me...but  I HURT,,, and sooo glad no one reads this.... it's the Good- Bye note no one ever finds, when the person takes their ink written notepaper and tucks it into their pocket before jumping off  a towering bridge into the frigid churning black waters below...

Several snapshots of today,,,, D,, bless her,,, imitating me.... she tried so hard,,, she only made me cry harder when she put her hand on my forehead to pray,, like i do to her.  She was at a loss,,, kinda cute, kept rubbing my back like I was one of the kids with a tummy ache,,,  kept telling me to not "blame myself" ,,,

((You gotta love Pentecostals in the altar,,, often times there's one person on each side ... one yells "HOLD ON!!"  and in the other ear one yells "TURN LOOSE"....))  done messed up that dude inside.

I always get cracked up and FRUSTRATED when well-meaning people THINK they know why I am in travail,, and say things like "stop beating your self up"  or whatever,,

STOP JUDGING ME, DAMNIT!!!!

Ever think??? Maybe my ANGUISH ISN'T EVEN ** ABOUT ME** ????

So here's precious D,, telling me we should go out to eat,, even if I have to go to work, I gotta get food first,,, she was clutching at straws,,, GOD DID NOT ENLIGHTEN HER ,,, and I could not,, ,WOULD NOT tell her any specific thing to agree in prayer with me on....  God tells me what to pray for others,,, She tried,,, and I appreciate her for it, even while wishing she would move on. She even followed me to the ladies room,, I had cried so hard I was trying not to be sick,, and well,, just   " Bless her LORD,,, Open her to the potential you have for her".Even in my own hurt, I worried she was taking my aloofness as personal rejection of her?? God I don't want to hurt another,,, but I didn't have it in me to play a role today. Forgive me?

And R A.,, with the beautiful glory of hair,,, she was worried,, she sat silent,, the best way to be at a time like I was in....  I SCARED HER TOO... she left,, when she came back she had brought me a plastic glass of cold water,,, I looked at it,, grateful,, but knew I was shaking too hard,,  I sighed i couldn't hold it,, and OMG R held the glass of water to my lips for me to drink of it,, to settle down...  I felt like a child...

I do feel that way...


I would have to say the greatest gift of all that was given in person, ,was the older lady saint, C,  (IN THE FUSCHIA TOP), she came up beside me with a "shimmy and c'mere girl" approach,,

 All i saw was a mother - figure that loves me,, and OMG she held me,, i didn't mean to cry then,,,,surely I will reach the end of this bottomless well of tears SOON??

 but I have wanted to be held ,,, i have been soo alone,, and I do not have love with my own mother,,, C held me "just right'.... and even when I pulled away,, probably 4 or 5 times,, I had no strength... and she stayed by by side,, I kept laying my head on her bosom...Wracked with fresh sobs and torments...

My thin strand of self-control was almost snapped asunder when C placed her hand on my heart and began to pray in the Holy Ghost over my heart.  She got the "closest" to the "right" need today... She asked me "who has broken your heart?"  as if she wanted the juicy gossip as if I were going to say I had been with a man or something.  She wasn't close at all then, lol.

"Nurturing" hold....  OH,,, how i wish i had that with my own mom...  a surrogate will do.. at Publix I have bought C a thank you card,,, and will leave it at the church office for her on Monday.

I know,, I believe,, I receive that a few specific people prayed for me,,, were concerned, but chose to stay apart, and pray from a distance.  They are the PERCEPTIVE ones,, the ones that GOD directs and gives the words to pray when I can not,,, not every thing has to be "laying on of hands",, although,, open to whatever God has.  Just know?? I recognize there is more of a force and that I was being prayed for. Thank you,,, And forgive me, please, I am sorry I texted so late.

I guess I fully intended to confess here in the privacy of the blog, to open up and really spill my heart,,, my guts are just pulled all out,, eviscerated, ,,but I am weary of it all... and so,, no,, I will not be telling why or what had me crying so much today...

I ccan say, I am not out of the woods yet.  I seriously hope GOD really is ALL THOSE "OMNI'S"  that we teach,, becasue I am in my truck alone and still broken.

Flat tire on my car when I got here to switch up at 10:30am and get to church,, and it was flat again when I came back after delivering in Miami  at 5:30pm this afternoon.  Added a "large car" can  size of Fix-A-Flat,,, and still had to add 20 psi of air.  I don;t have money to replace it,, and am not here on weekdays to get it done. So,, It will sit here in Sunrise seeping out all week,, and next Saturday,, for the 3rd time in a row, I will ahve to add Fix A Flat jsut to get to church.

all talked out,, got soft jazz playing,, ate a little something jsut so i could take my meds...176/ 104 ( almost low for me, lol) pulse at 92... Options of ways to lower all of the races... ok.

Today while grocery shopping in Miami Wal-Mart, I bought blank index cards, loose leaf notebook paper and folders.  I already began 2 new journals lately and was using one of them with the "exercises". Count me IN, though, so I assembled the tools suggested.

 its been a long life, I'm going to lay down.. AND PRAY i dont awaken screaming... that is getting really REALLY OLD!
Jan M. Olsen
~J~
both photos included in complete Picasa Web albums for further viewing of associated photographs.

I'm fixxing to unleash a full out torrent on here just as soon as I get to my laptop. Grateful for this quiet place!

I Am...

Speechless.



Jan M. Olsen
~J~

Where is the out in escape artistry? (the correct answer is "there isn't one").

There's No Way To Know..... We Have Taken Different Roads,,,

"I try not to think about what might have been,,,, no we'll never know "What Might Have Been"
(Little Big Town)

Seems I am becoming self-aware of a trend for myself? Weekend longings for love,, someone to share my slower, off- peak  times with. I wouldn't expect even a saint to keep up with my insane work schedule, but the more laidback Time Off periods?  Open longings.

That is just where I am. Got to trust that.

Live in this moment, for it exists. It is as real and valid as are  the euphoric times of a job well-done in my industry, or a life touched by a call or email or text... each viable.

Open to what is ahead? It's also okay to go back into Time. Brief forays into the magical creative world of "WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN?"  In this world? No one leaves. No rejections. No sickness. No depravity. No one screws around. No trips to the ER for CAT scans, or closet bruises, cuts, broken bones.

Everyone has a job and loves their day's work, then comes home and June Cleaver has fresh baked bread smelling up the whole house. The porch light is on, the kids come home, bicycles stowed for another night.

M-F, perhaps  I will  skip "Mine and So-and-So's song" because no one is here. Somebody left.  Me or them? Irrelevant.

Fri- Sat-Sun?  Lewis and I HAD  a song,,,, Isaac and I HAVE A SONG NOW,,,, even Ole and I have a few accrued over 15 years of making music together...

Angel - Alisha,,,, even young Jeremiah has a SONG  playing within me.

Certain friends? Yup, I hear an inner melody for them too..

There's one specific Denison & WHHS classmate that I mentor now.  When he calls, I may let him go to voicemail on purpose.  I love to listen to the sounds of his  laughter and smiles  seeping out of his VOICE. That too, is music to my ears.  It also gives me a chance to find out what the topic of today will be, perhaps I will stutter less when we talk on the phone?

The bump bump of the rumble strip? Is music to my ears,, it signifies guidelines and safety practices.

I live in TODAY... Got to trust in RIGHT NOW,,, LIVE IT. LOVE IT. SING IT. DANCE IT. LAUGH IT. CRY IT. FEEL EVERY NUANCE AND BREATH......

On my road, wherever it is leading me today? It is the RIGHT ROAD FOR THIS TODAY,

Trusting, making new music up as i go along,
Jan M. Olsen
~J~

If we were perfect, infallible creatures? We wouldn't need grace or mercy. There's a reason it is called REDEMPTION. I screw up. But I also GET BACK UP AGAIN.

Drop Box

Alabama-isms

Annual Peanut Festival, Dothan, Alabama  It's Friday night, Y'all!

 

You know you are in Deep South (Alabama) when the billboard for a chicken wing joint says "You wanted Mo? Now theys Fo". OMG!
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Blow your horn! I wants to get funked up... loving that groove....not sleep inducing, but fun all the same."Old school-music for grown folk"


This is one tired Cracker and the FLORIDA Welcome center never looked so good!  Woo hoo!

A Toast!

Well, I broke down and indulged a craving.  It could have been a big deal, if it was a desire to get plastered, high,  or several other things.  Nah, this one is fairly innocuous ;)

My lymphs are  the size and consistency of golf balls, and they feel at least as painful as being whacked by one too. The fever is soundly in my back, encompassing my entire upright being and all extremities.

EXTREMELY THIRSTY I have opened my SECOND * GALLON* jug of water for today.  Yes, that's right.,,,

SECOND GALLON!

My kidneys work just fine, lol, soooo stopping in Ozark, AL for a pit break, I decided to submit to a craving.  Caramel and hot cocoa.   I have been wanting a cappuchino since it first snapped cold. Love almond amaretto. 

One hot cocoa won't kill me.  Not having it might, LOL... j/k.... trying to laugh when honestly it hurts to do so. LAUGHING ANYWAY  ,,, soooo much better than the alternatives!

Well, better hit the road again before I have to void some more water.  Enjoying American Public Radio broadcasts of "Performance Today" throughout Montgomery, Troy, Dothan, Alabama.  Toured our great NATION via orchestra  galas extraordiairre!

Blessed to be thirsty, and to be able to indulge once in a while :)
Jan M. Olsen
~J~

If I can be anywhere via imagination right now? With those precious to me,
camping, bonfire, blankets,,sounds of the outdoors. Something warm to drink. Loved.

It's the sudden complete stop of all forward motion that causes the bug to splatter on my windshield. Olive Branch Terminal -exhausted/pain.

Screaming 18 wheels rocking on this 2 lane mountain hwy descent at dusk! JAKES THUMPING!Almost as much fun as getting my PLAY ON my beloved San Bernardino!!Whee

Map? I Don't Need No Stinking Map

Okay,, that was said with humor and bewilderment.  It is jibing at how men won't stop and ask for directions,, but women will, supposedly because they don't know how to fold the map back on itself.

Also, I am out of my region.  I am in Springfield, MO and part of me was EXCITED to travel old, familiar roads. Today was a trip with old friends & landmarks, in new, dynamic seasons. The other part of me is wondering what am I doing here?  As a "regional" driver, I get paid less per mile than a "systems" driver,, so I am cheap labor.  That plays into the pounding ponder in my head of going OTR again.  Waiting until the Spring of course!!!  I have zero desire to get stuck in a blizzard for days with a pee cup and dry Ramen noodles.

So much is tumbling across the pallette of my mind, that I can scarcely "free-type" it fast enough.  In that arena I am "all over the map" too.  Between pen, paper, books in my hands,,,, and electronic media opening doors and windows I never knew existed???  I am a mess,,, in a good way, I think?

Raw,, OMG I am sooo raw these days.  Very up and down,,, very extremely tired of being sick in my body... and seeing the correlation of my state of mind and body is only twisting things more up in knots.

I stopped going to my "usual" doctors,,, I declare mutiny on medicines, ESPECIALLY INJECTIONS that make me sicker than they help,,, and the injections have to just wear off,,, 

Experimenting with all kinds of combinations of herbs, vitamins, supplements,  various teas and drinks,  all while still very IN NEED OF SERIOUS PAIN RELIEF!!!  The pain is the same on the inj meds or off,, but I am going CRAZY with need for relief!  I am ready to try most anything.  I have even been eating and drinking things that up until this point I disavowed.

Take ACV,,, WHY would I willingly drink something that comes out of my body as sweat etc and makes me smell like an apple flavored Easter egg???  I don't even have the dog here to blame!  LOL.

Or eat spoiled milk products ON PURPOSE???? C'mon are you kidding me?  How about tomatoes?? Do you get the same healthy benefit if you swallow it whole??? Because one of them made me gag, so I cut it in half and I REALLY hated the tomatoe giz then!! That is just SOOOOO gross!!

but,, I want to be healed in my body.

Then there's the whole "mind" thing... which is hurting, thumping btw.  I have read  & heard some things that are SOOOO FAR from my (probably) narrow,,,, limited thinking sphere????  That is just rocking my world.

Curiouser and curiouser,, I am finding that one click on the Information SuperHighway yields a HOST of OPTIONS for more,, and eventually,, you get to a place where the terms are starting to appear in each other's articles,,

I'm a big person on "CONFIRMATION" soooooo "out of the mouths of 2 or 3 (or more) let every word be established".

The challenge for me is to stay "ME" while BECOMING WHO I AM MEANT TO BE.

Whew,, State Farm ain't never gonna believe this....
============================================================
Experiencing nightmares again, I am putting off going to bed.  Just realized though, I also forgot to eat supper... so I ended up just now going into the C-store and spending $3.50 on a sandwhich that I really didn't want.  Must have food for my meds though.

The concept of screaming for release is not a new one to me.  In the early 1990's my husband and I participated in a 16 week, 4 weekend INTENSIVE Marriage Retreat situation.  One weekend we did the "Haircut" and the "Vesuvius",,, and pounded pillows with plastic bats.  I adapted that to me personally and I go to the golf driving range,, or in times of DIRE DISTRESS to the batting cages,,, SWINGING FOR THE FENCE 200 times in a row kinda unkinks my emotional knots as well.  Also,, at least once, I took an axe to a fence post,,,,

Another weekend session we "Bonded" - Taking turns in the Hotseat in the center of the circle and began to say,, then yell, then to SCREAM  "I need,, I Need,,,, I NEed..... I NEED,,, I NEEEEEDDD  " until something very PRIMAL snapped inside our gizzards and all of a sudden some STRANGER poured from our guts and we began to cry out all sorts of things...

Funny,,, it brought EVERYONE to an INTENSE BONDING *except my husband.  He held himself aloof.  He was the last to go,, and did it out of a rebellious attitiude,, and when his "cry" came out it was still controlled and accusatory to me and just tore me into a million MORE fragments than I already was....

Another session we practiced actual physical holds,, the "Nurturing" hold,, the "Bonding" hold.. and more,, I guess.  I have experienced those from Pastor Hattabaugh more in 2 1/2 years than I ever have in my entire 42 years!!!!!!!!!!!! 

But here I am tonight, dreading sleep and nightmares,,, the screaming that rocked the house this morning.  Worried that I have been screaming in my truck ,,,, or WORSE<, what if I have been screaming at people's houses?????  OOh boy!

Thinking of rudimentary meditation ideas,,, and between the TWO suggested EXERCISES (screaming or meditating) ,, I think that meditating is the one I will go with before bedtime.  I already do something along those lines that is RIGHT FOR ME... so this will just be an adaptation,, until I can learn how to do it by the book.

I have what I call a "Prayer Rug",,,, which for me,, it is a soft, plush high pile bath rug that I keep rolled up and put away.  I only bring it out SPECIFICALLY when I want to get barefoot, and SIT ON THE FLOOR of my home/truck,,,,  It provides a clean environment,, but it is also a signal to my brain and soul that I am engaging in something SPECIAL.

During times of sitting, subjecting myself etc on my Prayer Rug,, I often end up kneeling,, or VERY OFTEN completely prostrate and in UTTER SUBJECTION to the GOD that is moving me....communicating.... concentrating....

Times of being LOST in HIM,,, when I can actually RELAX and let my mind, my heart, my thoughts, my emotions,,LET IT ALL GO,,, and it even let's my body sag and go LIMP,,, sends me to another dimension.

So not sure why?? But to me,, after several exposures to "MEDITATION" through media and conversations???   It seems like it may be an extension of something I already enjoy and do regularly.

Like when "Free-Writing" was looked up, then explained by a few sources?  I am a bit put off that "Meditation" seems to be something I "already do"....  a silly pout going on here,,,,

I was hoping it would be A BIG ANSWER???? I am not discounting it,, I am just READY FOR CHANGE!!!  If you do the same things you have always done, you get the same results you have always gotten.  And those are not working for me anymore.. I NEED RELIEF and HEALING!!

ok,, closing this abruptly... I am tapped tonight. sigh....

Praying for sweet dreams for me and for you as well,
Jan M. Olsen
~J~